Chart of the Day #2: Child Poverty in the Great Recession

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Pew Research has a good report up this week on child poverty during the great recession, based on data from the 2010 Census we wrote about previously. The takeaway is that, as you’d expect, poverty rates are increasing among all ethnic groups—but no group’s numbers are moving in the wrong direction at a greater clip than Latinos’. Here’s a chart:

Latino child poverty has skyrocketed during the recession: Courtesy of Pew ResearchThere are a couple things going on here. One is that Latinos are making up an ever-increasing share of the population, especially among younger generations, so these numbers are bound to rise in the short-term. Another is that the Latino unemployment rate is significantly higher than the natonal average (it’s 11.3 percent as of August), and that number correlates to less income.

It’s worth noting that poverty rates are still higher overall among black children, at 39.1 percent (compared to 35 percent for Latinos and 12.4 percent for whites). That’s about on par with the poverty rate for Latino children with immigrant parents (39 percent). The full report is here.

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